"At first sight it would seem that the pessimist encourages improvement. But in reality it is a singular truth that th…"

"In certain endless uplands, uplands like great flats gone dizzy, slopes that seem to contradict the idea that there i…"

"Religion has had to provide that longest and strangest telescope—the telescope through which we could see the star up…"

"The pessimist is commonly spoken of as the man in revolt. He is not. Firstly, because it requires some cheerfulness t…"

"One of the strangest examples of the degree to which ordinary life is undervalued is the example of popular literatur…"

"But people must have conversation, they must have houses, and they must have stories. The simple need for some kind o…"

"Literature and fiction are two entirely different things. Literature is a luxury; fiction is a necessity. A work of a…"

"But this is what we have done with this lumberland of foolish writing: we have probed, as if it were some monstrous n…"

"If the authors and publishers of 'Dick Deadshot,' and such remarkable works, were suddenly to make a raid upon the ed…"

"If, therefore, I am certain that most sensible people have forgotten the existence of this book—I do not speak in mod…"